The rule book for an indie agency in 2022 and beyond
Cofounders of Mumbai-based indie agency Infectious, Nisha Singhania and Ramanuj Shastri, share the lessons learned running their own agency and what future independent agencies would need to do to grow and prosper. The agency turns nine on All Fool’s Day.
The playbook of an independent agency
Learn to say ‘No!’
When you are an unfunded start-up bootstrapping it, wondering how you will pay the salary to employees – and you are yourself without any salary for months - saying ‘No!’ can be tough. And we said ‘No!’ to a client’s business because he was rude and obnoxious to our account management team. Could we afford to do it? Not at all. Did we do the right thing? Absolutely. We showed our team that we value them more than we value revenue. We learned to say ‘No’ early - to people and prospects that went against our principles. It has stood us in good stead. Also, we sleep well at night.
Don’t sweat the small stuff
We don’t check the ‘in’ and ‘out’ times for our employees. No leave is deducted for late arrival. We keep no tabs on people’s leaves. We don’t cut pay when people take leave. We don’t police people’s social media usage in the office. We treat people like responsible grown-ups, and it works.
Never stop evolving
We started as an ATL agency because of our expertise and experience. But we quickly realized that advertising is going digital and changed. We collaborated with and hired digital experts, upskilled our people, and hired editors and digital creatives. We learned digital advertising like our lives depended on it. So, we learned fast.
Fail faster
We are always in ‘Beta’ mode. Our status is always ‘work in progress’. We don’t let indecision paralyze us. We like taking quick calls. Making fast decisions. We make our share of mistakes as well - culturally misfit hires, impossible clients, unsustainable collaborations. We, however, refuse to live with our mistakes. We honestly admit our fault and correct course ASAP.
Get clients to grow your business
Trust us, clients talk and listen to other clients. No better people to grow your business than a bunch of delighted present and ex-clients. We get recommended a lot by our ex-clients. It’s nice to get an unsolicited new business call from a marketing head that begins with “BTW you guys come highly recommended”.
Get your hands dirty
We always keep our sleeves rolled up. We are not afraid to do the dirty work. We often write Facebook posts ourselves and frequently do research for our clients. No job is beneath us. We like to be in the thick of things and not sit in rarefied corner offices, thank you!
Make culture your top priority
Culture is what makes or breaks a place. We spend most of our time and energy on this critical piece. We keep telling stories, making presentations, and chatting with employees about what’s OK and what’s not OK at Infectious.
We try our best to be fair and transparent. We empower and motivate our people because it makes for a great business plan. We always stand by our people - in sickness and in health - and our loyalty has been more than repaid. Our starting team is still with us after nine long years. Many of our ex-employees come back. Our attrition rate is very low. We don’t think there is a better place to invest in than our people.
Blow your own trumpet
Because, frankly, no one else will. We take our PR very seriously. We celebrate every little achievement with our community. We let our followers know what new stuff we are up to. It’s amazing how many industry folks have told us when we met them that they regularly follow our work.
What the future holds
When Covid-19 struck we were quick to adapt and learn the new realities of a brand-new world. The reason we were ahead of the game and not playing ‘catch up’ is because we embraced change. We partnered with clients to solve business problems that kept them up at night. We believe the new world will favor the nimble and the solutions-driven. Those who don’t adapt quickly shall sadly perish.
Nisha Singhania and Ramanuj Shastri are the cofounders of the Indian indie agency Infectious.